How can you get nail polish stains out of carpet?
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Cleaning Nail Polish from Carpets
To remove nail polish from carpets, nail polish remover will work but you need to USE CAUTION because it can also remove dye from your carpet or upholstery.
On light colored carpet it might not be noticeable but on darker colors. TEST FIRST! Otherwise, a little nail polish will be the least of your worries. How about having to replace a whole roomful of carpet or trying to match the carpet color to dye one patch?
For carpet, always test any kind of chemical stain remover/cleaner in an out of the way place like a corner. Under a cushion might be a good spot for upholstery.
Non-acetone polish remover is probably safer but no guarantees.*nail polish remover may be harmful to carpet or fabric*
Here is more advice from FAQ Farmers:
- DO -NOT- USE NAIL POLISH REMOVER UNLESS U READ THE LABEL IT IS HARMFUL TO SOME DIFFERENT TYPES OF CARPETS AND FABRICS
- I don't know if this will work for "old" stains, but for new ones: Use a lot of water, keep the stain wet! Use about 15-20 squirts of hair spray and 3-5 splashes of rubbing alcohol. Scrub gently with a small scrub brush. Blot with paper towels. Repeat as necessary. Don't forget to keep pouring water during the process.
- I tried shaving cream, nail polish remover, hair spray, windex, rubbing alcohol, and water. It sort of came out.
- I had three streaks of pink nail polish splattered all over the carpet. i pretty much used everything on this site- Windex, nail polish remover, shaving cream, hairspray and lots of water. i feel sick from the fumes and there is still a little left but i think the key is persistence - continue to scrub and scrub and add stuff and most should come out. it's a lot of work and it sucks. in the future i think i will paint my nails outside!
- One tablespoon of ammonia and 1/4 cup hydrogen peroxide.
- I have very light silver gray carpet and bright red polish. I called the carpet maker and they said NAIL POLISH REMOVER. It worked! Then I cleaned the spot with a little carpet cleaner. Good as new.
- Wow, between everything everyone said I got the nail polish out. I used nail polish remover, hydrogen peroxide, carpet cleaner, water and hair spray and it got it out!
- I had an old nail polish stain on the carpet. I tried to remove it with nail polish remover and it did not come out at all. I thought that it was hopeless to get out so I left it there. I decided to look online and see if I could find a better solution. I used water, hair spray and rubbing alcohol and it worked on an old stain!
- Do not use bleach. A bleach stain leeches the dye out of the carpet. After that all you will be able to do is replace the carpet or cover it with a rug.
- Nail Polish Remover, Water, Hairspray, Hydrogen Peroxide, Carpet Stain Cleaner, Rubbing Alcohol.
- I used Spot Remover from Stanley Steamer and a lot of rubbing and scrubbing and the spot came out.
- Brake fluid cleaner. Works in no time.
- I spilled dark purple nail polish on our brand new beige carpet. The lady at the local hardware store recommended "Goof Off." It took quite a bit of the stain out. From there I used ammonia to get the rest up. The Goof Off worked great to get the polish off the tile & grout, too.
- I spilled a whole bottle of BLACK nail polish on a WHITE rug. Use OXYCLEAN! It works.
- I used HOT WATER, NAIL VARNISH REMOVER, HAIR REMOVING CREAM, THEN SOAP POWDER IN THAT ORDER, then I scrubbed like a maniac with a dish scrubber, you know the ones with one rough side? For some reason if you don't use it in order it doesn't work!
- I just used nail polish remover and water and it came out.
- You can remove nail polish stain of a fabric, carpets, and counter tops using Motsenbocker's Lift Off #3. We tried it on our quilt an it made the nail polish stain just disappear, like magic! You can purchase it at any hardware store. We purchased it at The Home Depot for about $6.00. It also removes permanent ink and marker stains.
- I know this sounds crazy but using carburetor and choke cleaner (found at any auto parts store) did the trick for us. My boyfriend the "miracle worker" used this after I spilled bright pink polish over beige carpet. The only bad thing was the smell was pretty strong from the cleaner and it took a few days to go away, but it was amazing how it works.
- My stain wasn't old, i spilled blue nail polish on my tan carpet, and I poured water on it, I kept it wet, then scrubbed, and dabbed, tried not to push it more into the carpet, then then, i poured more water on it, and then i poured nail polish remover on it, scrubbed and dabbed it, then hair spray! put hair spay on it, and scrubbed, did that for about 15 min, and it came out.
- Water and hydrogen peroxide. My arm now hurts from scrubbing, but it's gone.
- Water, hair spray and nail varnish remover worked after about 15 minutes scrubbing. A little tip, use a stiff nail brush to scrub with, seemed to lift it a lot faster.
- Just use some hydrogen peroxide that's the most safe and it works well, it's also usually available at home. I used it on a day old stain of hot pink nail polish and it worked fine. I scrubbed it with a brush. Be careful not to tear your carpet up to much. And to make sure the hydrogen peroxide could not hurt my carpet I suck it up with a Bissell carpet cleaner.
- hydrogen peroxide and small amounts of nail polish remover works great. and if not then get really hot water pour and lightly scrub! hope u get the stain out! it worked for me
- I just started with some nail polish remover and then used Resolve for Pet Stains with water...IT CAME OUT IN 5 MINUTES!!
- I splattered nail polish on my carpet and I found that torpensol works really well. Put it on a wet cloth, don't put it right on the carpet because it will sink all the way through. I'm sure thats not good for the carpet. It took a lot of scrubbing and your house will smell for a while but at least it all came out.
Additional Response
According to the author of Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean, Linda Cobb, try the above mentioned methods and precautions with nonoily nail polish remover. If this does not work, buy straight acetone at a beauty supply house, pretest, and apply with an eye dropper or nonsilver spoon, blotting immediately after every application. She adds that once the polish is removed, follow with Spot Shot Carpet Stain Remover (Apply as directed). If some polish still remains, apply hydrogen peroxide to lighten.
sorry bit long hope it helps hun xxxx